1.9 Dci using 1.2 litres of oil for 500 miles

[Pcafox]

Hi, and thankyou to anyone who reads and can offer any guidance or info if you have experienced this fault before. We recently purchased a 2003 Megane II 1.9 DCI because these cars always seem great value for money. My wife travels now nearly 500 miles per week to and from work, and 90% is motorway driving, prior to purchasing this car our fuel bill was approx £125 a week (this has been halved). Its the first car in a long while that she hasnt complained about either the driving position or performance or anything else like that.
Anyway, it was purchased from a private seller who seemed genuine enough, i still dont have reason to suspect otherwise but now i can explain the problem. Being a dork but part time mechanic and believing everything i'm told i never though it neccesary to check the engine oil, as the car had a full history and the message 'oil level ok' appears everytime the car is started. At this point we had had the car for 3 weeks and therefore covered nearly 1500 miles.
One day the wife rang to tell me the oil pressure warning came on and by the time I asked her to stop the car had decided to bring itself to a holt. Oil level was clearly 'not ok'.
Since then i have had the engine replaced (complete used engine out of a 70000 miler (not confirmed)) and a new turbo (from Renault) as there was deemed excessive play in the shaft / bearings, a new timing belt and the oil and filter changed (fully synth castrol 0w30). Used from the old engine was the inlet manifold / exhaust manifold including EGR, flywheel and clutch.
Anyway 2 weeks after the repair I gave the car a little check over, the oil level was bearly touching the bottom the dipstick ( 2 litres went in to bring back to max). Now I am checking the car weekly and its using between 1 and 1.5 litres depending upon mileage covered. There is a noticable but small amount of smoke when accelerating but not what i would call excessive. The EGR has been removed and cleaned and also the ports in the manifold to direct the exhaust gas has been cleaned out also (they were heavily blocked with soft wet carbon).
Using a Solus Pro the only stored fault was P0400 unrecordable fault, this has now been cleared as i was told it is to do with the EGR system.

I obviously have a dilema. Has the previous owner been topping up his oil at this rate prior to me purchasing therefore telling me there is an issue elsewhere or have i installed a worn engine? The breakers that i bought the engine from is quite sympathetic and will provide another replacement engine but I am simply seeking advice as to change the engine again will be a total last resort.

[Phil and Liz]

by the time the oil light comes on it's too late, I know its shutting the gate after the horse etc. but never trust electronics when it comes to oil etc. check at least once a week until you see a pattern i.e. it doesent like a drink

consumption you're getting sounds ezxcessive neither of my 1.5 dci use oil between services nor has any car in the last 20 years, my goldwing is another story but it is nearly 30 nyears old

[davelowe]

(fully synth castrol 0w30)

0w30 oils are expressly verboten in these engines. I don't have any other thoughts.

[Pcafox]

Ok thanks for the info, however now I'm getting contradicting views, should I choose 5w40 fully synth or 10w40 fully synth?

[Ray]

i use 5w40 and always have since owning the car

[pw981]

it used to be 10w40, but renault dealers now use 5w40.

I can't remember to what standard the 5w40 is to be (I don't drive a 1.9dCi anymore), alexb, or maybe someone else will hopefully come along and give you some more advice!

[direstraits]

1.9 dCi uses strictly full synth B3/B4, 5w40 or 0w40 (for cold climates). C3 oil (I suppose that's the Castrol 0w30 that you bought) is not recommended for 1.9 dCi, Renault dCi engines use Xw40 oil, unless they are equipped with FAP (in which case they use 5w30 C4, with exception of 2.2 dCi which is now quite obsolete anyway). I would go for Mobil 1 5w40 fully synthetic, or Mobil 1 0w40, also fully synthetic.

[tomalamix]

search for the renault standart remark. the remark will be rn0710, rn0700 or rn0720, depending on the engine. the 720 i know its for the FAP engines, the 710 and 700 i dont really know the difference but there is some for sure

[direstraits]

700 is petrol, 710 is dCi without FAP.
Regarding your problem with oil consumption, you might have worn/stuck piston rings, worn tappets or dirty valve seats, especially if the engine you bought wasn't preserved properly. The other problem would be in damaged turbo shaft bearing (not properly installed/refurbished), check the intercooler pipes for excessive oil.

[Pcafox]

Could the wrong oil cause the usage? I remember having the rocker cover off on the replacement engine and it looked like new compared to my old engine. It's obviously worth replacing the oil and filter again with the right stuff first? I wi know within a week or two if the oil usage gets any better?

[davelowe]

The usage could be owing to the 'new' lump having been reconditioned. Run it in as per the handbook, and keep an eye on the level. Direstraits may be right though...

[Pcafox]

small update, after a rechange of oil and filter, I decided to use 10W40 as I intend to reduce the recommended service interval to 8000 miles. I dont want to fit another turbo! I checked the oil level daily and found that the cars consumption had reduced but was still excessive (0.75 litres for 500 miles). The guy that supplied the engine (who I had kept informed about the issue) only had an F9Q750 engine out of a Laguna 1.9 DCI 120bhp (megane being an F9Q800) so I have taken that engine and fitted it yesterday, 8.30am start and 7.30pm finish. If anyone wants to know the fundamental diierences then please let me know. Anyway its in and running sweet, I'll keep you posted on the oil. It should confirm the engine as being at fault.

[AlexB]

Clean or replace the oil separator, which is a part of the dipstick tube. It gets blocked by polymerised oil. This causes excessive pressure and pushes the oil through the turbo seals into the intake/exhaust.

Regarding oil. Only use RN0710 or MB229.5, they do not polymerise.